Column lays out the likely obvious moves. Winnipeg moves to the Northwest with Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver. Which likely bumps Colorado out to the Pacific and bumps Dallas to the Central.

Which means one of Detroit, Columbus, or Nashville goes to the East.

It's no secret Detroit wants to be in the Eastern Conference. The organization and its fans -- who have a Facebook page dedicated to changing conferences -- have been very vocal about their desire to switch conferences, citing less travel, less road games in the later time zones (Detroit is one of two teams in the West sitting in the Eastern time zone), and renewing rivalries with Original Six foes Toronto, Montreal, Boston and the Rangers.

"I've gone on record saying we'd prefer to be in the East, but I haven't heard anything and I'm just worrying about putting together our team for next season," GM Ken Holland said on Monday.

The Red Wings have long held the belief they had a promise from the NHL that they would be the next team to go East. Oh, if it were only that simple.

Yes, it makes sense to move the Wings to the East. But it also makes sense to move Columbus. Same goes for Nashville.

The problem for Detroit is it might be too valuable to move. Nobody in the Western Conference would want to see the Wings fly away -- well, maybe from a competitive standpoint -- because of the draw they are at the gate. They have as big of a fan base as you'll find in the States. Bottom line: it's guaranteed to be a big crowd on the road. The foes in the West don't exactly want to see that disappear.

Plus we have a little imbalance issue by swapping Atlanta for Detroit. You are sending a team that has made the playoffs once in its history to the West for a team that has made the postseason 20 consecutive seasons. You could make the argument that the conferences need a little balancing anyways, that the West has been the better half top to bottom for a few years, but that's a significant upheaval.

But let's have some fun here. Let's imagine a Detroit move to the East happens. You likely aren't going to send them to the Southeast, so some shuffling will be needed. Most likely scenario would be putting the Wings in the Northeast with Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Buffalo, dropping Boston into the Atlanta and moving either Pittsburgh or Philadelphia to the Southeast. Surely you see the downsides in that. Bruins-Habs in separate divisions? Breaking up the Keystone State rivals? Really, there's no way that makes much sense to put the Wings in the East while keeping important battles going without just dropping them in the Southeast -- which, again, makes little sense.

So it might still happen, but I'm thinking sorry Detroit, you're stuck where you are.

Geographically speaking, the simplest solution seems to be putting the Predators in the Southeast to fill Atlanta's spot. Everybody else in the East stays the same. But, despite its location being so far East, Nashville doesn't sit in the Eastern Time zone. Columbus does. And the Blue Jackets would prove a pretty comparable swap franchise wise with the Thrashers.

In the end, while Detroit can hope and pray, Columbus and Nashville will be the odds-on favorite to swap conferences, with my thinking it will lean toward Columbus. But Detroit has a whole season to politick.

"It's like dating a woman who hates you so much she will never break up with you, even if you burn down the house every single autumn." ~ Chuck Klosterman on Browns fans relationship with the Browns

I can't wait to see how it shakes out. I still hope it's Columbus to the SE Division, but, the sentiment will probably be to send Nashville there for the reasons I laid out in my last column. Geography and competitive balance.

No way DET leaves the West. Biggest draw as a road team for Western Conference teams. They'd be in an uproar.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

I read two conflicting reports, It was said that Bettman wanted to re-align based on time zone. However Pacific, Midwest, East and South where the divisions names floated around in the articles. The geography of the league makes a directional division format difficult. But if its based on time zones, I could see it looking like this:

I read two conflicting reports, It was said that Bettman wanted to re-align based on time zone. However Pacific, Midwest, East and South where the divisions names floated around in the articles. The geography of the league makes a directional division format difficult. But if its based on time zones, I could see it looking like this:

The Vote for re-alignment will take place during the owners meetings 5-6 December. Supposedly this is the plan they will be voting on according to Hockey Night in Canada:

1)Teams would be redistributed into four divisions over two conferences based on geographic proximity.2)Teams would play a home-and-home with each team outside its division. The remaining games are split within the division.3) The first two rounds of the postseason would be contested within each division. As Friedman points out, this is how the system worked back when the NHL had 21 teams.

skatingtripods wrote:Nothing the NHL does will be a better idea than making regulation wins worth three points. But I digress.

So, would it be 48 outside your division and then 34 among the 7 teams in your division? I guess that's a cool idea. You get to see all the teams in hockey at least once at home.

I agree on the three points for a win , however (and granted I know it will never happen) I would just get rid of the shoot out, id have just one 5 min. 4 on 4 OT Period, and if its still tied after that so be it... maybe its the soccer fan in me , but I never saw the harm in ending a game in a tie.

As far as the new proposal goes , I like the emphasis on division play , should foster some heated rivalries. I also think bringing back the divisional rounds in the playoffs may be the best idea Bettman has ever had.

If this proposal passes there is one thing left to do , and that's bring back Adams, Smythe, Norris, and Patrick.

"I don't think they're building chemical weapons in Berea. But they might be. I can't say for sure."Chuck Klosterman

Playoff format is what the AHL had last season. They had it because of travel. NHL appears to be thinking along the same lines.

As has been said on Twitter throughout the night, this now means that Boston now plays NYR, PHI, PIT the same amount of times it plays the teams in the Western Conference. Not sure I like that format.

I don't like this format for two reasons. The one above and that if the playoffs are done divisionally, there's a good chance that the top eight teams won't make it every year. The fifth team in another division might be decidedly better than the fourth team in the other division. They're on the outside looking in, despite being better. I see this being a problem in the other Western Conference division.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

I like the emphasis on division play ( side note: the dispatch refered to them as 4 conferences ).I don't like the fact that the CBJ is arguably the weakest link in the toughest division/conferance. I am also a little disappointed that the majority of the teams are in the central time zone, but I suppose that doesn't hurt the Tribe, so I can live with it. Besides a 8pm start in Chitown is better then a 10 pm start in Vancouver.

"I don't think they're building chemical weapons in Berea. But they might be. I can't say for sure."Chuck Klosterman

Well the NHLPA killed realignment. This is widely being seen as the opening salvo in what's likely going to be a bloody CBA fight this summer. Just when Hockey starts gaining alittle steam it looks like once again it is it's own worst enemy. I understand the argument over having two 8 team conferences in the west and two 7 team conferences in the East. But change needs to be made , and I have yet to hear of a plan for realignment from the NHLPA.

"I don't think they're building chemical weapons in Berea. But they might be. I can't say for sure."Chuck Klosterman